And it is not just the Severn Beach line, with other local stations highlighted as hotspots for easy fraud.

The city council’s transport boss Mark Bradshaw said people were being “denied the option to pay” and added that the local rail network could suffer.

First Great Western, which runs the Severn Beach line, said “it is unfair that those passengers who choose to pay subsidise those who do not”. But a spokesman added the company had already introduced more staff to help ensure passengers are charged.

The Department of Transport subsidises First Great Western for rail services in the South West to the tune of £2 per passenger.

Mr Green, who works in graphic design, says he and his friends often travel for free as there is no ticket collector on the train or station barriers. On a recent trip to Temple Meads he argued with staff at the barrier when forced to pay despite seeing hundreds of passengers walk off for nothing.

In a letter of complaint to First Great Western he said: “We boarded at Severn Beach and travelled all the way to Temple Meads, without one single fare being collected. I would say roughly during that trip there was at least 100 people who used it in that distance and not one fare collected.

“When we arrived at Temple Meads we were ordered to pay to leave the station, but had we got off the station before we wouldn’t have had to pay a penny.

“I believe this is a needed service for the rural community and I do believe it is subsidised at cost to the taxpayer.

“Surely when they do the figures it looks like the train is hardly ever used at which the train company will either get more subsidies or stop the service.”

David Redgewell, co-chairman of the Severnside branch of national campaign group Rail Future, said he was appalled at the system, which he said encouraged “fraud”. He said: “This is taxpayers’ money and we should be getting a better service here.”

The Severn Beach line now has more than a million passengers a year, according to the Severnside Community Rail Partnership. The partnership based their findings on fares sold rather than passenger numbers which means the statistics are conservative.

The surge in popularity of the line stems from the city council subsidising it from 2008 until 2013, which meant train services could run every 40 minutes for most of the day. The size of the subsidy was about £106,000 a year.

Although the council no longer has any control over the line, transport boss Mark Bradshaw said he was urging First Great Western to improve ticket collection to help boost local rail further at a crucial time when long-awaited new services are in the pipeline.

First Great Western's response in full:

"Clearly, it is unfair that those passengers who choose to pay subsidise those who do not. That is why we have increased the number of ticket examiners working to support train conductors on Severn Beach Line services; every service operates with a train conductor and we have introduced full ticket checks at our busiest stations including Bristol Temple Meads. We have also employed almost 20 more additional staff in the Bristol area and have doubled staff on a number of Saturday services to make sure we collect all fares; all of which are supported by further revenue protection inspectors.

"We treat revenue protection very seriously, to ensure we collect all the fares we possibly can while also giving people a range of options to buy tickets. In the past year we have introduced a new scholar ticket at attractive rates to encourage parents / school children to buy season or term tickets and we regularly conduct further revenue checks at stations en route.

"Since 3 August we have also extended the operating hours of the gatelines at Bristol Temple Meads from 0600 to midnight."

I think Mr Redgewell is justified in his complaint. The fares are so cheap that it is clearly a success story that BCC does not have to subsidise it further. Instead of FGW taking this relaxed attitude, perhaps BCC could provide ticket purchasing opportunities in shops. For goodness sake, a couple of quid is not really something that people need to go out of their way to avoid paying and the benefits to the city of reducing car travel, including increasing frequency of service, are immense. There is a good case for making all public transport free at local level actually.

Rich folk only? LOL come on... of course some are rich but the majority need the train for various reasons as we all do not want to drive. If you book in advance the fares are more reasonable. £12 to Newport or £6 to Bath return (from Bristol). Sorry but it would cost just as much to drive or to use the bus..

This story is of little interest to 90% of the population who would never consider travelling by train, and consider Britain's railways are for rich folk only, some return journeys are more expensive than a small second hand car

I travel on the trains along the routes mentioned. Many times I have boarded unable to pay at the station I board at. Willing and wanting to pay. On a few occasions I have neither been approached for payment of tickets nor had the opportunity to buy one even at the station i get off at (attempting to pay in retrospect). This is not the fault of the passengers its the train operators at fault. Considering the costs of tickets these days I'm not surprised that a few people are delighted at getting one over on the train company's. England has one of the worst train services in Europe even north Africa (Morocco) is cheaper and better staffed then here. With the recently announced disproportionate ticket inflations I wouldn't be surprised if more people don't pay (often for standing room only) when they find themselves in a position not to. Virgin Trains are a shining example of how operators exploit subsidy's and over charge for tickets whilst giving a second rate service.
The Train company's Pay fines for not meeting targets that they won bids on is a money maker however you look at it. Its cheaper to pay fines than it is to spend money on implementing changes and improving services that they stated they would to to win the bids. Big business taking the pee again, whilst parroting the age "old its not a crime" to operate like this. Devoid of morals with a focus purely on profit. Evening post again Demonizing the average hard working man/woman simply trying to make ends meet and attempting to turn us against each other by using buzwords like FRAUD and quoting oficious buisness men with statments like " "it is unfair that those passengers who choose to pay subsidise those who do not".
. SHAME ON YOU E.P
We are the same people who pay for your RAG. Grrr! This sloppy manipulation of facts heavily weighted on the side of BIG BUSINESS and there profit margins (lets face it they're not going to go bankrupt over the odd £2 fair as they get subsidised BY US through our TAX's anyway. The same TAX's they avoid through complicated and convoluted offshore tax havens. However if I and many others you cant be bothered to collect fairs from don't arrive at work on time regularly, we ultimately lose our Jobs and Homes. SO! get a perspective from the people you should be representing, US! It makes my blood boil to hear this propaganda. Thank goodness for people like Mark Thomas. https://http://tinyurl.com/o7wt8fn

In Italy you buy a rail ticket at newsagents and other general outlets. When you get on the train you punch the ticket at a machine. There is no excuse for not having a valid ticket. There are no bewildering fare pricing rules, just simple pricing. Why can we not do this here. I have travelled between minor stations and have been unable to buy a ticket on the train as some staff cannot be bothered.

To be honest is FGW put as much effort into running a decent trainset (i.e. customer service) as they do in 'protecting their revenue' (i.e. profits) then they would be higher than 15th out of 18 train companies in terms of reputation and satisfaction.